Month: November 2014

The Hill newspaper has this story about an Indiana Air National Guard unit which deployed to the Middle East as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. Kinda interesting that the plane is so expensive and so not in the Air Force’s plans that they needed to retire it and would have next year, barring Congressional intervention and yet, it’s going to war again.

The plane, also known as the “Warthog,” provides close air support for ground troops. The administration has ruled out the possibility of ground troops in combat, but military officials have floated the possibility of U.S. advisers going into some battles with Iraqi forces.

The people they are talking about could be special operations troops and likely a group of airmen known as JTACs or joint terminal attack controllers. In general terms, they are people who travel with army or Marine Corps units and call in air strikes. They do a lot more than that but that’s very basic.

This all comes against the backdrop of the Air Force’s fight to get rid of the A-10, which is the best close air support the Air Force has now. The plan, if it gets past Congress, is to retire the A-10 in favor of the F-35, F-15 and the F-16 which can develop precision ordinance and multitask into other missions which the A-10 really can’t do. But they also can’t loiter for hours over the AO and they can’t get low enough to the ground.

JTACs generally believe the A-10 is terrific platform and should be kept. In fairness, the Air Force probably would keep it if it had more money but believes they can do more with less if they keep the F-35, the most expensive airplane ever and one that has been subject to cost overruns and issues for years.

The Greater Peoria Honor Flight will be hosting our first Honoring Our Heroes Breakfast on Saturday, November 22. This breakfast is a reunion for those Veterans who have had their day in Washington, DC, during 2013 and 2014. Several attending are WWII and Korea Veterans and each has a story to tell.

Breakfast includes pancakes, sausage, biscuits and gravy, hash browns and more. The event will be held at the Bartonville American Legion Post 979, 4501 Airport Road.

I can only say that my experience on the honor flight was incredible. If you have a chance to be a guardian or if you have earned the right, by your service, to be on the flight, do it. It’s incredible. The people are amazing, the sights are tremendous and the emotion is overwhelming. And no, I am not talking about the welcome home stuff or the mail call. I am talking about seeing veterans at the memorials. I am talking about see strangers become friends within hours. And I am talking about the gratitude of a community.

The Russians are clearly trying to make a point with their plan to send bombers toward the Gulf of Mexico, said Jeffrey Mankoff, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The message, he said, is “connected to the tensions over Ukraine that have also affected the broader relationship.”

“It’s kind of a reciprocity,” Mankoff told CNN. “They see us trying to muscle in on what they see as their sphere of influence. (Russia is likely thinking), ‘If they can do it to us, we can do it them.'”

Sowhat is this about? Russia flexing its muscle? Looking for attention? Is the West overreacting? Here’s one view on CNN’s Web site which offers merely an alarming graphic. Sort of looks like how things were back in the Cold War days huh?

Well, I have been saying this was gonna happen but to be sure, Martin Dempsey, the head of the Joint Chiefs, is only “considering this.” That said, if Stars and Stripes has a lead story on it, it’s more than just consideration, methinks. The second paragraph:

Thus far, American military personnel have been limited to serving as rear guard advisers to the Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish peshmerga. But Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said that could change as the campaign against the Islamic State becomes more difficult.

Given ISIS aka ISIL aka Islamic State is a pretty potent fighting force and given they are well-armed and apparently well trained and given that our air strikes over the past few months have merely blunted but not eliminated the threat… I think a third Iraqi War is a certainity.

So what type of troops? The New York Times says it could be JTACs or forward air controllers in layman’s terms. Those guys who call in air strikes. And it just so happens we have a unit of JTACs here in Peoria, the 169th ASOS.

Defense officials said that American Joint Tactical Attack Controllers could be used to call in airstrikes from tactical positions on the ground, most likely behind Iraqi forces. The tactical attack controllers often deploy in positions like hills and other high terrain so they can see operations and call in strikes

The White House has repeatedly said this wasn’t gonna happen and Def Sec. Chuck Hagel is quoted in this story as saying no way, Jose.

Despite Dempsey’s comments, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, appearing at the same hearing, repeated the Administration’s position that “U.S. military personnel will not be engaged in a ground combat mission.”

Here’s the issue. As long as the White House draws that line in the sand, the insurgents with IS are gonna know they can do up to a certain level without much fear. They aren’t afraid of the Iraqi Army, that’s clear, and the Kurdish Pesh Murga are a good force but apparently ready to lead an offensive.